County Board Limits Public Comment to 3 Items Per Speaker; Desmond Casts Lone No Vote

The San Diego County Board of Supervisors voted 4-1 on Tuesday to limit each member of the public to speaking on no more than three agenda items per meeting, tightening rules that had already cut speaking time from three minutes to two.

Supervisor Jim Desmond cast the lone dissenting vote, arguing that frequent participation does not diminish a citizen's right to address their elected representatives.

Supervisor Terra Lawson-Remer, who authored the measure, said a small group of repeat speakers had consumed a disproportionate share of meeting time. Figures from her office, reported by the San Diego Union-Tribune, showed that five frequent speakers accounted for one-third of public testimony at county meetings in 2026, while ten accounted for 44 percent.

"That concentration, combined with repeated disruption, off-topic conversation and hostile conduct, undermine the entire environment of the meeting," Lawson-Remer said.

Supervisor Paloma Aguirre supported the cap, telling the board that hostile comments had discouraged educators from bringing schoolchildren to observe local government. "You've got one caller talking about genitalia and another talking about racist and bigoted and misogynistic words. Of course they're not going to expose their kids to that," Aguirre said.

Board Chair Joel Anderson expressed reservations but ultimately voted for the measure after language was added giving supervisors discretion to relax the limits on a case-by-case basis. "I'm certainly not tickled to have to sit through hecklers' vetoes," Anderson said. "But by the same token, I think our work is far too important to let hecklers win the day."

The updated Rules of Procedure now state that a member of the public "may request to speak on up to three General Legislative Discussion items and up to three Land Use Legislative Session Discussion Items per meeting and will be given up to two minutes for each."

First Amendment Coalition Legal Director David Loy told the Union-Tribune he knew of no other local government that had limited the number of agenda items a speaker could address and questioned whether the county's approach went too far. County Counsel Damon Brown argued the new rules are legal under California's Brown Act, which permits local bodies to adopt reasonable regulations for public comment.

The three-item cap is the latest in a series of restrictions on public participation at county meetings. The board previously reduced speaking time from three minutes to two and has considered rules addressing threatening, profane, and abusive language.

The rule change also codifies sanction authority allowing the chair to warn and potentially remove disruptive speakers, and to bar repeat offenders from speaking at or attending meetings for 60-day periods.